Thursday, December 12, 2013

Biking Beauties to Bus Excursions

And it seemed appropriate to finally finish out my series on my travels in Vietnam. Let's hope I can remember my details. It was so hard to write while we were there because honestly I kept falling asleep while writing. That is what being a busy traveler will do to you. I got back and immedietly seemed to fall back into this whirlwind of life and jet lag was pretty killer for a week or so. Alas we continued our journey on Day 4 with a bike ride through out the country side in the Hoi An region. Mind you I haven't ridden a bike in how many years? We were also in this county where bikes and mopeds are the perfered transportation methods, and people zoom around. Getting on that bike and riding through the village was terafing, but once we got into the ocuntryside and rode thorough the rice paddies, saw the water buffalo, walked on a bamboo bridge, I fell in love. This was the beauty I found in Vietnam. The people working their land, their livlihood, and the only way to really experience this is on a bike. I have to admit I was also deeply saddened during this journey. I kept thinking about the war and what the American presence did to these people in the countryside who just wanted to live their lives tending thier rice paddies, and we rounded them up and put them in essentially concentration camps, and the mass killing that happened. However, I think they have a beautiful spirit and have really taken back their way of life. As I mentioned before the views were amazing.

Bike line up

Hoi An region

Bamboo bridge

Rice patty cemetery

Leaving our gorgeous resort hotel room was hard

The Melissas

Marble mountains

Dragon bridge in DaNang

Boat we took to the Buddhist pagoda

Traveling by boat was my favorite

Adorable puppy on the boat

Pagoda

Gorgeous doesn't even begin to describe it

Second adorable puppy that day

The monk that became famous for incinerating himself during the war was from this pagoda. This is usually where the car is displayed that transported him to the site, but it was being conserved.

That night we adventured along the streets of Hue and saw this random site on a bridge.

Street Food in Hue

We had to drive along the coastal mountain road to get to Hue and saw some amazing views.

Pit stop at a beach along the way for a restroom break.

The brightest beach we have ever been on.

Hope this little picture story has been enjoyable. Two more days of reflection and the Vietnam saga will be at end. Everyday I want to travel back to the beautiful country, and continue to learn more.